Open Letter: “Mothers of Gun Violence Victims Call for Help to Save the Gun Registry this Mother’s Day”

In response to the recent election, we, the mothers of victims of gun violence, are calling on politicians to stand up for public safety. During the election it became clear that many candidates were ill-informed about how important the gun registry is as a tool for police. We are concerned that abolishing the registry will be pushed through the [Canadian] House of Commons based on misinformation. Regardless of race, creed or colour, we need to work together on integrated solutions to curb violence. We need to stand together to defend gun control . . .

The registry is consulted by police 14,000 times a day to remove guns from dangerous people, to take preventive action when there is risk of suicide or domestic violence, and to solve crimes. We know people who swear that they are alive today because of the firearms registry.

We are mothers who know the agony of losing a child. This Mother’s Day we are calling on Canadians to help us stand up for gun control and to tell all newly elected Members of Parliament that the gun lobby does not speak for us.

We know all too well that any gun in the hands of a dangerous person can be lethal. Most firearm-related deaths in Canada are caused by rifles or shotguns and the risk of gun violence is actually higher in rural communities where there are more guns. Our gun control law is the result of at least six public inquests into tragedies which have emphasized the importance of licensing gun owners and registering all firearms. These measures represent a small inconvenience for the privilege of owning a gun. Gun death and injury, particularly with rifles and shotguns, has declined dramatically since controls were strengthened.

The Conservatives have vowed to scrap the gun registry immediately. They are proposing to erase the data on nearly 7 million rifles and shotguns already registered. There will be no turning back if they are successful. This will be a terrible waste of the money that was spent in building the system. Once a gun has been registered it does not have to be reregistered ever again unless it is sold or given to someone. The cost of continuing to register rifles and shotguns is less than $4 million a year according to the RCMP. Eliminating the gun registry will save very little – but it will cost us a lot.

Every major public safety and victims group in the country, as well as the Conservative-appointed Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, has said that the registration of rifles and shotguns is essential. The latest poll showed that two-thirds of Canadians support the gun registry. In spite of their claims about ‘law and order’ and ‘victims’ rights’, the Conservatives are focusing on appeasing the vocal gun lobby rather than dedicating themselves to public safety. Gun lobby groups are lobbying not just to dismantle the gun registry but to relax other controls on guns as well.

Stand up for gun control. Please contact your Member of Parliament immediately.

Signed by: Elaine Lumley, mother of Aidan, killed outside a bar while visiting Montreal in 2005. His murder was not solved. (Toronto, Ontario) Karen Vanscoy, mother of Jasmine, killed in 1996 in St. Catharines by an acquaintance with a gun stored in an unlocked kitchen cabinet, which was originally stolen from a gun shop in Oshawa. (Hamilton, Ontario) Suzanne Laplante-Edward, mother of Anne-Marie, killed at Ecole Polytechnique in December 1989. (Montreal, Quebec) Louise Hevey, mother of Anastasia, killed at Dawson College in September 2006. (Montreal, Quebec) Audette Shephard, mother of Justin, killed in Toronto in 2001. His murder was not solved. (Toronto, Ontario) Priscilla de Villiers, mother of Nina abducted in Burlington in 1991 and executed with a rifle legally owned by a farmer. The inquest into her killer’s suicide recommended the registration of rifles and shotguns in order to reduce the chances of such tragedies. (Burlington, Ontario)

comments

It’s agonizingly saddening and heartbreaking when people’s personal tragedies serve to reinforce the most asinine, illogical, immoral, and untrue of ideas. Let’s hope more Canadians arm themselves in the coming times.

Interesting that only two of the authors were related to victims of crimes committed with long arms.

It should also be made quite clear that long-arms are NOT the leading method of firearms violence in Canada. I would love to learn where the got their statistics.

I can also tell you that the figure of $4 million a year to run the registry is complete bullshit. The Liberal party promised that it was only going to cost $100 million to set up and the less than $2 million a year to run. That was $600 million ago.

The greatest use of long-arms in gun violence is suicide, and there the authors have a point. However, suicide is a symptom of a much larger issue not the disease itself. People truly committed to suicide will find a way; those that the police save were not truly committed in the first place.

The only real advantage to the long-arms registry is for the police to know when a firearm might be in the house when called to a domestic dispute. It could, conceivably, save an officer’s life. Yet, the vast majority of such calls rarely end in an attack on the police.

The registry will be shot down by a fiscally responsible Conservative majority government that sees no need to spend billions more on a badly run make-work project for the Maritime province of New Brunswick. The cheap theatrics of a motherhood issue will not change this fact.

The gun grabbers are, even by the standards of leftist idiots, incapable of forming a coherent thought.

The registry is consulted by police 14,000 times a day to [hand prosecutors an extra charge].

Police do an exemplary job of policing, which makes society as a whole safer and allows people to go about their day without fearing for their lives. From any individual crime victim’s perspective, however, they are really just a clean-up crew that takes careful notes.

We know people who swear that they are alive today because of the firearms registry.

Their best evidence that the registry is effective is that they know people who swear that it worked.

We know all too well that any gun in the hands of a dangerous person can be lethal.

They’re also lethal in the hands of pregnant women, the elderly and disabled people.

Our gun control law is the result of at least six public inquests into tragedies…

Which is hands-down the worst way to make laws.

These measures represent a small inconvenience for the privilege of owning a gun.

They are subjects of the Queen…

Gun death and injury, particularly with rifles and shotguns, has declined dramatically since controls were strengthened.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

They are proposing to erase the data… There will be no turning back if they are successful.

Right, because databases can only be compiled once.

This will be a terrible waste of the money that was spent in building the system.

Sunk-cost fallacy.

Eliminating the gun registry will save [$4 million / year] – but it will cost us a lot.

“A lot”? Seriously?

[Groups that support registration have] said that the registration of rifles and shotguns is essential.

Essential to what? What really kills the credibility of these twats is that they can’t come up with any kind of coherent strategy for improving law enforcement.

Gun lobby groups are lobbying not just to dismantle the gun registry but to relax other controls on guns as well.